Be Careful What You Say!

Zoe not only likes to repeat anything and everything she hears people say these days, but she also appears to understand the context of when to repeat things she's heard. Several weeks ago I slipped up and exclaimed, "Oh crap!" about something of which I have no current recollection. What I do very clearly recollect is that before I realize what I had said, Zoe was parroting back "Oh crap!" over an over again. Fortunately stronger language than "Oh crap!" is not a routine part of my vocabulary--unless you consider "ass" to be a cuss word, which apparently some do and some do not...but this last tidbit will only be amusing to those who know the story behind my usage of the word "ass" in front of my college students at Evangel University. But before I digress too far, let me return to the topic at hand.

I have been very careful not to repeat the "Oh crap!" incident. However, apparently with Zoe, it only takes once for her to grasp something. Recently, in a moment of frustration, I exclaimed, "Oh shoot!" Please note I was very careful not to say, "Oh crap!" In spite of my efforts, Zoe followed up my careful exclamation with her own resounding, "Oh crap!" On a different day Zoe dropped something and exclaimed, "Oh crap!" I've a feeling I'll be paying for this one for quite a long while.

The recent joke at our house stems from Zoe's repeating of a particular phrase she found to be quite novel. Brian had just finished his typical portion of Zoe's bedtime routine: getting her changed into her pajamas and reading her a story. He then handed her off to me to rock with her. He had just left us in Zoe's bedroom with the door shut when I quickly began to detect poopy diaper odors from the trash can. We tend to refer to the offending trash as "taking out the poop bag." I knew Brian had gone into our bedroom and would be able to hear me over the baby monitor, so I said (in a slightly raised tone), "Honey, if you can hear me, would you come take care of the poop bag?" Zoe found this dialogue intriguing, and followed it up by raising her own little voice a tad and repeating, "Honey...(unintelligible bable)...poop bag!" This sounds especially funny when said in a little baby voice. Of course, Brian and I found this to be so amusing that we couldn't help laughing at her. I, in particular, laughed until I cried. Yes, I know that is basically encouraging her to continue, but I just could not help it this time. Now whenever we raise our voices to call up or down the stairs to each other, Zoe launches into her own little raised toddler voice rendition of "Honey...poop bag!" While we continue to get a good chuckle out of it at home, I really am hoping that she never has the opportunity to use this one in public.

Let the Climbing Begin!

Zoe has most definitely graduated into the "climbing stage." My first clue was the day that Zoe managed to pull herself up into an overstuffed chair in the living room while I was around the corner picking up the breakfast dishes. I suddenly heard squeals of delight, and when I peeked around the corner, there she was...pleased as pleased can be...standing in a rather "Ta-da" fashion eager for me to witness her achievement. Soon after this, she discovered that she could reach the nearby lightswitch when standing in the chair. More squeals ensued as she switched the light on and off and on and off and on and off. A couple days later I returned home from work one evening to find her standing in the same chair desperate to show me how she had learned to pull the floor lamp towards herself and turn the knob on and off. Now she had two light switches to work. She was sooooo excited that she could hardly contain herself.

Of course, she is now trying to climb on anything and everything. She figured out how to get up on her new step stool all by herself only hours after we initially set it up. Of course, upon conquering the stool, the proud screams quickly followed. She was also thrilled to discover all the new things she could reach on the bathroom counter with her new found height.

These days I find myself constantly chasing and grabbing at a fearless toddler as she boldly reaches for new heights. Bumps and scrapes and bruises are becoming more and more frequent around our house. Sometimes Zoe gets a bump or two as well.

Ride!

I love to ride in my box while Mommy or Daddy pull me around. I'm having a hard time accepting that I'm getting too big for this! I figure as long as I can wedge myself in, I can talk Mommy or Daddy into giving me a ride!

Purple Princess Shoes!

Dear Great Aunt Pat and Great Uncle Ron,

Thank you for the cool purple outfit with the matching purple "princess sandles" and the orange bug! I was so excited about the sparkly purple sandles that I had to wear them shopping at Walmart the next day. I didn't want to ride in the cart cause I wanted to strut around in my beautiful new sandles and show them off to everyone!

Mommy says you would be proud of me because every morning when she asks me what I want to wear I always tell her "purple."

Hugs and Kisses,
Zoe

Spring Has Sprung...Sorta

We've had some warm days, in the 70's, and Zoe is taking full advantage of them. She loves to draw with the sidewalk chalk on the patio, run laps in the grass, throw and kick her ball, and now she has graduated up into a full size "Crabbie" Sandbox. Up to this point we kept 50 lbs of sand in a long, shallow plastic storage box that she could easily get into and play with. After deciding she enjoys the sand enough to invest in a sandbox, I did some research to determine what type to get, and then we stalked Toys'Rus waiting for a good sale. The sale hit on Sunday, and "Crabbie" came home with us.

When we first brought Crabbie out into the yard, Zoe climbed in and danced around in it and twirled in circles squealing "Wa wa!" I think she is going to love it when it's warm enough for swimming again. Incidentally, after spending many days inside, being trampled on, jumped in, and climbed on, the wading pool sprung a couple air leaks. We will have to shop for a new pool when the weather is warm enough. For the present, we will concentrate on sand.

Zoe thought Crabbie was Elmo at first. She is correct in that he bears a very strong resemblence both in color and with the big white googly eyes. We told her it was Crabbie, and now she's got it down. She had great fun sitting in the middle of her sand, pouring it on her arms, legs, and head. As you can see in one of the pics, she also had lots of fun laying in the sand on her tummy. Two baths later, I think I'm still picking sand out of little chubby toddler skin creases.

After a couple days in the 70's over the weekened, it has been cold and rainy. Crabbie has not gotten much attention for the past few days.

On another topic, Zoe had another follow up visit with her Orthopedist this morning. He continues to monitor the cyst on her finger that was present from birth. He is still calling it a hemangioma, though it definetely does not fit a clear textbook diagnosis. It has shrunk according to his rather crude measurement. He acknowledged it is not the most precise method of measurement. Basically he feels either side of the lump, places a small pen mark and then measures the diameter. He determined it has shrunk roughly two millimeters since he saw her 6 months ago. However, after the appointment 6 months ago, it grew considerably larger through January before beginning its shrinking again. It has followed that intriguing pattern all along, growing and shrinking. He still recommends that we simply monitor it awhile. If it had grown consistently over this past 6 months, we would probably at least try another ultrasound on it. Since it does not interfere with her fine motor skill development and causes her no pain, and has been shrinking over the past 3 months, he did not recommend any further testing or surgical removal at this time. It would be very difficult to do an MRI according to the doctor. She would have to be sedated to keep her still enough. He stated that if we were to go that far, he would actually recommend surgery to remove it rather than the MRI. Of course, we don't want to be that invasive unless necessary. I questioned abnormal tissue and the possible growth of cancer cells, and he stated that would be very very rare, though not "impossible" insomuch as any medical issue should never be deemed "impossible." He did say we could seek a second opinion and he would be happy to help connect us to someone for such an opinion. We may do that, but first we have an appointment on Monday with a potential new family medical practitioner for Zoe's general medical care. We will see what she says about it. In the meantime, the orthopedist requested we return in 4 months this time rather than 6 to continue the monitoring.

The "Diaper Dance"

More Easter Mail

Easter Loot!